The Vision and The Shadow
by peppernator0817
Summary: A secret held deep within Hogwarts calls to her, it always has, and it seeks to control her. As a Professor, it is part of Severus' job to keep the her safe; but there is only one way to keep her safe from the Marriage Law act that threatens to reveal her secret and so many more. He must do the only thing he can to protect her, even though it means going against his principles.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So this is a story for a challenge in the FB writing group 'Lover's of the Potions Master' I hope you all like it as much as I do.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, other than the OC which will be introduced later. Warner Bros and JK Rowling own the right to Harry Potter. I gain nothing, nor do I want anything from this.**

**Prologue**

As the sun slowly began to rise, pulling over the clouds, it washed a rainbow of colors over the small town that Severus Snape called home. Cokeworth had never been anything special, even at it's peak; in it's present state, depressing would be a more appropriate word. Following the streets one would believe that most of the inhabitants of the area(referred to as Spinner's End) were all gone, or quite old and poor. However, that was completely untrue for the man who was one of the last remaining people on his street. In fact, for the most part it was quite the opposite. Severus was not an old man, and he was not exactly poor. While he was not a man of great means, he had funds enough to live a comfortable living, thanks in part to patents from potions he had marketed (under a nom de plume of course) and in part to the money that the Ministry of Magic had given him when he was released.

They had tried to name here a hero, to hoist him on their shoulders, for all of the things that he had done for them. For all of the things that he had done for what they called the war effort. This was not something he wanted, it was never anything he had wanted. Everything Severus had done from the very moment that Harry bloody Potter to Hogwarts was not for anyone but for the lovely witch who had been buried and lying in the cemetery in Godric's Hollow. Potter had seen fit to inform everyone in the wizarding world that Severus had been in love with his mother.

It wouldn't have been so bad if every witch with a tender heart and an empty purse hadn't come knocking on his door, but no. The ministry was going to have to make things so much worse for him and for so many single people, both men and women 's lives so much worse. Well, at least that is how Severus saw it. He sat now at his breakfast table, a cup of tea half to his lips as he unfolded the Daily Prophet. he had known it was coming, in all honesty how could it not? Gently setting one of the two remaining cups from his mother's only good tea set onto its saucer, Severus sighed and settled himself, before reading the article that he was sure was going to doom them all.

**_Ministry of Magic Announces: Possible Marriage Law in the Works_**

_Today the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, announced that there was a possible marriage law in the works. Although it has been attempted many times, since the last time it was pass in the fourteenth century, it has never been approved. However, the Minister, and more specifically Senior Undersecretary Percy Weasley seem to be adamant about pushing it through._

_The Minister had this to say about it. "What we are trying to do is unprecedented, and some might say dangerous, but we took a great deal of losses here. Short of a law demanding pregnancies from all able witches this is the best we can do." It is rather funny that the Minister said that this way though, as Percy Weasley reminded the Minister that it was part of the Marriage act._

_Shacklebolt made no excuses after that, explaining that the Maternity subsection that made one pregnancy a requirement after a year, was necessary to help bring the magical community population to where it once was. Not much information was given on the status of the Marriage Law which is being named Ministerial Decree 8675309. Updates will follow as things are pushed through. This reporter is very interested in where things might go._

Tossing his paper onto the table in disgust he moved his hand to the tea up nearby and for a moment he thought about throwing it against a wall. Looking down at the fragile thing in his hand he shook his head and sipped his tea before rubbing the bridge of his nose with his hand. This did not bode well, fine, it did not bode well in his estimation. Quickly finishing his tea, he rose and began to gather the things he would need whilst out in Diagon Alley.

It was going to take all of Severus' strength to not go to the Ministry while he was out in town, but there would be time for that later. He was going back to Hogwarts, certain steps needed to be taken, supplies needed to be bought and up looking down at his robes he realized he could do with some new clothes. Sighing he added a trip to Gringotts to the first part of his day and that was nothing he ever had looked forward to. Finally descending the stairs, and being sure to duck past the exposed wooden beam his mother had been so fond of, Severus stepped toward the fireplace. He stopped in his tracks and groaned at the familiar tapping an owl at his window. Letting the ugly bird in Severus didn't even bother opening it, by glancing at the front he knew it was.

Moving slowly he headed this time towards the front door, a stream of profanity leaving his lips, that had his mother heard she would have slapped him, no doubt. Slamming the door behind him Severus stalked towards the edge of town. "I should have bloody fucking known!"


	2. Inception

**A/n: I would like to thank my dear friend Kate for being my awesome beta and bugging me to work on this when I was slacking, also all of those who have favorited or followed the story so far. I normally promise to do better only to get worse over time, so I won't lie to you this time! haha. Reviews are like chocolate kisses!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, nor do I claim anything besides the lovely OC and the plot!**

**Chapter 1: Inception**

As the sun set on London the sky was a blaze of fire, beautiful oranges reds and yellows painted everything the same beautiful shades. Just outside of London in a small flat sat Kirtsy Schwartz. Looking out her bedroom window at the sunset, she sighed and covered her face with her hands before moving to lay on her stomach on the tiny, twin bed. It was happening again, in the front room of her residence her grandparents were having a screaming match. It was all her fault; it was always her fault, well, in part because no matter what it was she always got blamed some how. She had gotten angry at he grandfather for calling her a twat and made the tea pot explode. So, the living room had erupted in a screaming match that centered on what should be done with her. In their minds, she was little more than a delinquent, a bothersome nuisance in their lives.

Kirsty could not yet fully control her magic even though she would soon be a seventh year. She would write to them and tell her grandparents amazing stories of the different things she had done, when in reality it had never really happened. She was shooting for their affection, wanting them to love her, but they never had; in all honest (well, mainly her opinion) how could they? As muggles, they would not understand any of the things that were happening to her, but one thing she could never share. There was one secret that she held that she kept from even the Hogwarts staff. The Whisperer. At night in her room at Hogwarts, she heard it. the Whisperer; it called to her, called her name and told her secrets told her to do things. It kept her agitated, kept her from sleeping.

As a Slytherin, she should have gone to her head of house during the war when it had started, but she hadn't. How could she? She couldn't trust that quack Slughorn with her purse lying on the table; how was she going to go to him with something like this? He was too trusting, too gullible, too- well he was just too creepy. This year, though, was different. This year Snape would be back, and without the stress of the building war, she would be able to confess the truth about what was happening to her. The man who had be so far had been one of the few mainstays in her life, trying to affirm in her mind that she was normal, that she was worth trusting. What he would say and how he would react was anyones guess, after all he was a Slytherin.

Glancing over at the Daily Profit on her desk, she grimaced. It had been nearly two weeks since the announcement of this Marriage Law that was being worked on and everyone was going ape shit, as if the bloody thing had been passed already. Now, though, they were painting the very same man who was pretty much her mentor into a monster, calling him a murderer and in some cases even worse; Kirsty just didn't understand it.

As her thoughts turned to school, she heard something shatter from the living room and sat up suddenly. Things were becoming much too violent for her tastes. With the train leaving in only a few days, she had already packed everything and had it sitting by her window. Thankful for the first time in years that she lived on the ground floor, she threw open her window, ran to lock her door and quickly began to put her things outside. Once that was done and she was ready to be gone, she shut the window and moved to the curb. There was only one thing to do now, catch the Knight Bus.

Pulling her trunks to the curb, she groaned as her back began throbbing from the weight of the trunks; sticking her wand out, she summoned the Knight Bus and sat on her trunk as she waited for Stan to come round. It didn't take long really; it never did -not at the speeds that that Knight Bus seemed to be able to travel. It seemed though that it was moving at a faster pace this evening, or that Kirsty was moving much more slowly than normal.

Of course, all of these things were most likely due to the gnawing pain in her back. It only seemed to bother her in times of high stress when she was worried or there was a great deal going on. Then again it was always stress related, but who knew really? She usually just took a pain potion and slept it off, doing stretches when she woke up, and that was her plan as she climbed into the Knight Bus.

There are two things people typically expect when they climb into the Knight Bus. One is to be accosted by Stan, Ernie and the talking shrunken head that helps to steer the tall magical bus, and the other is to see the beds that are already taken and full of sleeping witches and wizards. What Kirsty did not expect to see, however, was the loathed, greasy, dungeon bat on the Knight Bus. He was sitting against the headboard when she saw him, his knees up, elbows pressed to them and his face in his hands. He looked quite miserable to be sure and unaware that anyone was even looking at him. Turning her head to look away, she handed the money to Stan since he was finished with her luggage.

"You already know what to do, love. Got a few more stops and then headed to Scotland. Just picked a few up from the Leaky." Nodding she nodded and walked to the dark cherry bed that was the last empty on the bottom, despite almost going upstairs. As she walked past the bed that held the somewhat sulking Severus Snape, she looked over at him wordless just in time to see him raise his head and see the emptiness in his dark eyes.

Biting inside her cheek, she did her best to keep herself from gasping when their eyes locked and tried even harder to not to blush she tossed her purse on her bed and climbed up and beneath the covers. She ignored the dark wizard, and mainly thank to his hands covering his face, she was unable to see the questioning look and the eyebrow that had been raised at her entering the bus.

To say that Severus' day was terrible was not only an understatement it was downright idiotic. He had spent most of the day counselling an almost inconsolable Shacklebolt only to pulled to Hogwarts by a staff meeting. Hunting down Mundungus Fletcher had been no easy task either. The little bastard had been dodging him all day and even got him hexed a few times by wizards that were hunting him to get their money back. That was why he was traveling by Knight Bus. Kingsley suggested he not apparate for the rest of the night, and he needed to get to the Leaky Cauldron.

He would stay the night there and recover from the hex rather than going to St. Mungos, those harpies would probably do him more damage than any curse or hex he had been hit with, especially with recent events. Sitting on the bed provided for him, he thought about going to sleep, but with these people around that he didn't know and couldn't trust, he knew that it was never a good idea to do such a foolish thing.

So, there he sat with his face in his hands when the young woman had boarded the bus. His head had been leaning back and his eyes closed when they had stopped to get the girl, but he had covered his face when she had come on. Without a doubt, he knew she had recognized him; how could she not? It was a bit annoying, really, to be known for his hawk like nose, and lanky greasy hair.

As the young woman, Schwartz was her name unless Severus was mistaken, made her way past him, she had blushed and that had settled it. He knew that he would get no peace as she was headed to the same destination, but the soft sounds of snores coming from her bed moment after she had climbed into it set his mind to rest and he was able to relax and inevitably drift off.


End file.
